James Murimi @Jamesmurymy
If the General Election was held today, governors Isaac Ruto (Bomet), Cornel Rasanga (Siaya) and Mwangi Wa Iria (Murang’a) would retain their seats.
According to a poll survey conducted in Bomet, Nandi, Murang’a and Siaya counties by Trends and Insights For Africa (TIFA), the three county bosses stand a chance of flooring their competitors, albeit with less than 50 per cent of votes cast.
But Nandi Governor Cleophas Lagat would lose his seat to former Cabinet minister Henry Kosgey, according to the findings released yesterday by TIFA director Maggie Ireri in Nairobi.
She said the objective of the study was to assess political party affiliation in the four counties as well as identify popular candidates vying for positions of governor, senator and Women’s Representative.
In Bomet, Ruto, who intends to defend his seat on the Chama Cha Mashinani party, would garner 44 per cent of the votes with JP’s Joyce Laboso and Julius Kones trailing with 32 and 19 per cent respectively.
“The question is, between Laboso and Kones who will get the Jubilee Party nomination ticket to compete with Ruto?” posed Ireri.
The polls shows that Rasanga would get 40 per cent followed by William Oduol, Nicholas Gumbo and Carey Orege at 29, 20 and 4 per cent respectively.
In Murang’a, Wa Iria is still the man to beat as the survey shows that he would garner 48 per cent of the votes against his main challenger Jamleck Kamau’s (Kigumo MP) who would get 34 per cent.
“This is a two-horse race between Kamau and Wa Iria,” she said. The survey conducted between February 15 and 19 shows that Jubilee is dominant in Bomet, Nandi and Murang’a counties while the National Super Alliance (Nasa) has of 97 per cent popularity in Siaya.
According to the poll, Kanu Secretary General Nick Salat stands a chance of beating Bomet Senator Wilfred Lesan of Jubilee by 24 per cent to 20 per cent.
In Siaya, Senator James Orengo would get only 3 per cent support if he vied for the county’s governor seat compared to 87 per cent if he opts to defend his senatorial seat.
In Nandi, former Industrialisation Cabinet minister Kosgey would clinch Nandi governor’s seat with 36 per cent, followed by former Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Felix Koskei and incumbent county boss Lagat at 21 and 18 per cent respectively.
Nandi senator Stephen Sang would reclaim his seat with 50 per cent but would suffer a loss if he opts to contest for the governor seat. The study shows that Murang’a Senator Kembi Gitura would retain his seat by flooring Irungu Kang’ata (Kiharu MP), who is eying the seat.
Murang’a women representative Sabina Chege would retain her seat with 70 per cent of votes against her rival radio presenter and TV host Waithira Muithirania who would garner 13 per cent of the votes.
“The party nominations are expected to be competitive and could lead to fallouts because there are a number of strong candidates vying for one seat under the same party,” Ireri said.
She noted that if the party hopping law is nullified by the courts, strong candidates would continue decamping to parties which are not members of major coalitions.
The post Poll gives Ruto, Rasanga, Wa Iria re-election hopes appeared first on Mediamax Network Limited.